Wednesday, September 19, 2007

The Benefits of Boredom

I had a talk to day with my friend Cat Herder and we touched on many topics, one of them being the benefit of boredom for children.

Yes, that's right. BOREDOM.

What do kids do when they have unscheduled time and no TV, computer, or organizing adult to coach them through it?

Cat Herder brought up the topic because her son, also homeschooled, had spent the weekend at a friend's house and the two kept trying to go in and play on the computer or ask Mom for something to do. Mom just kept sending them back outside.

This wasn't cruelty or neglect - the house was safe, secluded, on the banks of a calm creek, and boasted its own basketball hoop and a play set in the back. There were plenty of balls and toys, etc. But instead of rambling, poking in the mud, or shooting some hoops, the boys spent the first day trying to get someone or something else to organize their fun.

Cat Herder's reasoning - they didn't know how to be bored. More precisely, they didn't know how to recognize boredom and deal with it themselves by making their own fun. There they were, completely unscheduled, and the expectation was that some adult, or machine, should tell them what to do.

Her resolve now is to try and make sure that her son gets more of this unscheduled time - preferably in the company of other kids (a bit of a problem as he is an only child).

Her comments made me think about my daughter's recent explosion of creativity. Since we started homeschooling, I've had very strict guidelines on TV time. Once school work is over, if there it isn't time for the TV to come on, then it doesn't come on. The first few days of this The Girl was at a loss. She actually did extra math, the first day.

Then, literally over night, she started drawing and playing her electric keyboard intensively, and asking for a guitar. While she has always like to color, this intensive drawing was new. and the musical interest was a complete shock to me. We have had that keyboard for four years, and she rarely did more than set it to play automatically so that she could dance. Now, she has memorized most of the songs on it!

We haven't started guitar lessons yet, but she is very intent upon playing her instrument and spends a lot of time just exploring the sounds it will make. It kind of reminds me of a baby learning to talk.

Our curriculum, Oak Meadow 4th grade, has supported this blossoming in creativity to an amazing extent, but I truly think that boredom has been the key to bringing out all my daughter's hidden talents.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Let's learn oceanography with SpongeBob!

When I first made the decision to homeschool, my best friend, The Cat Herder, told me there would be great days ahead. Days of learning, exploring and wonder at my daughters capacity to soak up information like a sponge.

She also told me here would be days when we studied Oceanography with SpongeBob.

That was Friday.

The thing is, it had little to do with The Girl, she was no more reluctant than usual - all ready to do her favorite subjects (math, drawing)and needing a bit more guidance to get through her least favorite work (reading, writing, grammar). I however, was in no positiong to do much of anything.

I had work - contract dealines looming, and a back log from earlier in the week to get through. I simply had too much going on, and I felt guilty that I wasn't keeping up.

But you know? I also realized that we had a lot more time to do that. That we were going to get back to things on Sunday (Saturday is our day off). The world didn't end just because I had to juggle my priorities in favor of work for one day.

Cool.

:-)

Monday, September 10, 2007

My first Usborne show went well, and our first week of homeschool has been great. Things seem to be settling down, and although I have a few money issues on the horizon, I'm feeling pretty good about the economics of the house.

I think I have learned more about my daughter in the last week than I learned about her all last year.

1. She loves to make music. I never knew this! She spends hours now playing her electric keyboard and she wants to take guitar lessons. why did this never come up before? I think she was just too tired - school didn't leave much time for anything else.

2. She has a real love for art. Not just coloring, which I knew she liked, but painting and drawing and looking at other people's work. I'm blown away by this.

3. She writes well, but could care less about spelling. Oh well, I guess it couldn't all be good news.

:-)

4. She ADORES math beyond all reason. At least beyond my ability to reason, since math was always my least favorite subject.

Last Monday this conversation really happened:

Me: Okay, so you can do these math exercises for practice tomorrow at Grandma's house. Now go finish your chores and then you can watch TV.

The Girl: But I want to do my Math practice NOW.

Me: Well, okay. You can do the math practice tonight if you want to, but you have to go and finish your chores first! Absolutely no math until your chores are completed, young lady!

The Girl: Oh, all right. *pout*


I still can't get over it - I would have scrubbed toilets to get out of math! I think she must have been switched at birth.